Baguley Hall Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy coming to Baguley Hall Primary School.

They benefit from supportive relationships with staff. This helps them to feel happy and safe. Pupils value the 'worry safes' around school.

They know that adults will listen to them and help them with any worries that they may have. Leaders deal with incidents such as bullying swiftly.

Leaders are aspirational for pupils, including those pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

However, these aspirations are not being met. This is because some aspects of the curriculum are not designed effectively or delivered well enough by teachers. This means that pupils do not achieve a...s well as they should in a range of subjects, including in reading in key stage 2.

Staff focus on developing pupils' use of 'REACH' (resilience, empathy, aspiration, confidence and honesty) during their time at the school. Pupils and staff strive to treat others as you would wish them to treat you. Pupils look forward to weekly celebrations with their classes where they share their 'work of the week' together.

Most pupils behave well.

Pupils carry out leadership responsibilities, such as being school councillors, peace pals and members of the eco council. They have recently focused on managing the school's carbon footprint and introducing gender neutral toilets.

Pupils enjoy the variety of trips on offer, including residential visits.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Leaders have reviewed the curriculum across the school. In most subjects, leaders have thought carefully about what they want pupils to learn.

Leaders have implemented their curriculum plans fully in some subjects. In these subjects, teachers recap and revisit key knowledge on a regular basis and address pupils' misconceptions. Pupils build up their knowledge well in these subjects.

In some other subjects, staff do not check what pupils know and remember from previous learning. This stops pupils from building on what they already know. Pupils find it difficult to recall their prior learning.

They struggle to link what they have learned to new concepts. They do not know and remember enough of the curriculum that has been taught.

In contrast, the curriculum in the early years is well designed.

Leaders have carefully considered what children should learn. Staff provide well-matched support because they know the children well. Children are well prepared for Year 1.

Children develop their listening and attention skills effectively from the time they enter the Nursery class. This ensures that most children are ready to learn phonics as soon as they start in the Reception Year. In phonics lessons, pupils practise and build on their early reading skills.

Staff provide regular support for any pupils who need additional help in learning to read. The books that pupils read allow them to practise the sounds that they know.

The teaching of reading for older pupils does not provide sufficient focus on practising and developing fluency and comprehension skills over time.

This hinders how well pupils are able to access the wider curriculum. Some older pupils, particularly those who find reading difficult, do not have positive attitudes towards reading.

The needs of pupils with SEND are identified by staff at the earliest possible opportunity.

Leaders provide staff with appropriate guidance to meet the needs of these pupils. However, this guidance is not always effectively used in key stage 1 and key stage 2. Staff do not always adapt their approaches to curriculum delivery to meet the needs of these pupils.

These inconsistencies prevent some pupils with SEND from achieving as well as they should.

Children in the early years settle quickly into established routines. Children behave well and are keen to learn new things.

In lessons and around school, most pupils behave well. However, weaknesses in the curriculum lead to some pupils having a negative attitude to their learning. This hinders them from achieving as well as they could.

Leaders have put in place a range of strategies to encourage pupils to attend school regularly. However, there are some pupils who are persistently absent from school.

Leaders have designed a range of additional experiences to help pupils to learn about the wider world.

For example, pupils are regularly taught about local and international news. They are encouraged to reflect on the impact of this on themselves and the wider community. Pupils learn to respect difference and develop an understanding of equality and diversity.

They are well prepared for life in modern Britain.

Leaders consider the workload and well-being of staff when making decisions about the school. Members of the governing body are suitably experienced and understand what improvements need to be made.

They provide an appropriate level of challenge to leaders.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders ensure that staff know how to spot safeguarding risks.

Staff know how and when to raise concerns. They do this in a timely manner. Leaders work closely with parents, carers and external agencies to ensure that pupils get the support that they need.

Pupils learn about important aspects of safety. The curriculum helps pupils to learn about the different risks that they may face and how to manage them. For example, pupils learn about healthy relationships and how to keep themselves safe when they are online.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The reading curriculum, beyond the teaching of early reading, is not focused on pupils securing the key reading skills and knowledge that they need. Some pupils, particularly those who find reading more difficult, do not build their fluency or comprehension skills sufficiently well. Leaders must ensure the reading curriculum is sharply focused on the most important reading skills and knowledge pupils need to enable them to become confident and fluent readers.

• Staff do not use the information that they have about pupils with SEND to adapt the delivery of the curriculum as effectively as they should. This hinders how well some pupils with SEND learn. Leaders should ensure that staff use the information available to them to adapt their pedagogical choices to meet the needs of pupils with SEND.

• In some subjects, teachers do not recap and revisit past learning with enough frequency to strengthen pupils' long-term memory of the curriculum. This means that pupils do not achieve as well as they should. Leaders should ensure that teachers check pupils' understanding regularly and provide opportunities to revisit prior learning to support pupils' understanding and learning over time.

• Some pupils have low attendance and are missing out on core elements of their learning. This is having a negative impact on their achievement. Leaders should work with these pupils and their families to improve their attendance so that pupils do not miss learning across the curriculum.